


Catastrophe

by digthewriter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crush, Cute, Getting Together, Growing Neville MiniFest, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hospital, M/M, Magic, Minor Violence, Open Ending, Original Character(s), Pining, Post War, Pre-Slash, Secret Crush, growing neville, healing neville, neville hit by a curse, neville in the hospital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-15 09:06:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18495763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digthewriter/pseuds/digthewriter
Summary: Neville wakes up in the dark in hospital… with Charlie Weasley by his side.





	Catastrophe

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to REDHORSE for the beta.

When Neville woke up, it was dark. He tried to move but he felt as if he'd been strapped to the bed. 

"What?" he said, struggling, but couldn't move. "Gods, I hope this is a dream." 

"Hey…" A soft and soothing voice helped him calm down, but still, it was dark and he didn't know who was speaking to him. 

"Who's there?" 

"It's me, Charlie," the voice said, and then there was a faint light above him. 

"You're in hospital." 

"Why can't I move?" He struggled again and even though it felt like something was happening, he wasn't able to move. "Is this a spell—" 

"You've been in and out of consciousness for a few days now, so they placed a spell—here, this will help—" Neville watched as Charlie drew out his wand and whispered an incantation.

Finally, it felt as if he was able to breath. He was able to move his toes and his ankles and then tested it all the way up to his shoulders. He was free. 

"Thank you!" he said with a sigh of relief. "What happened?" 

"You don't remember?" Charlie asked, surprised. 

"No. The last thing I remember was—" Then Neville stopped himself. "Bernard," he said.

==**==**==

Neville was at the Weasleys for Sunday dinner when Charlie was visiting with his boyfriend Bernard. No one seemed to like Bernard and Neville didn't blame them. Bernard was acting like a pompous arsehole. He seemed to be in love with Charlie but hated every single person in his family and insulted them all in the most passive of ways.

Neville had decided to steer clear of him and thought he'd go home early. He'd wanted to go to Sunday dinner because Charlie was visiting but wasn't aware Charlie was bringing his boyfriend. 

In the end, Bernard had decided to pick on Neville as well. Surprisingly, that was when the Weasleys had stepped in. They'd been all polite when Bernard was being rude to them, but one stab at Neville, and no one was pulling punches. 

Charlie had dragged Bernard out of the house and they'd been gone for hours. In the end, Neville had gone to look for them. He'd found Charlie and Bernard in a heated argument and when Bernard had seen Neville, he'd _evidently_ lost it and attacked him with a spell. 

Two days later, Neville woke up in hospital.

==**==**==

"I'm so sorry he attacked you," Charlie said to Neville as he sat down next to his hospital bed and held Neville's hand.

That was weird, Neville thought, but didn't complain. Charlie was holding his hand. Neville had found himself stupidly attracted to Charlie for years now, and even though he'd never even spoken about his crush on the man, he was relatively certain everyone knew how much he fancied Charlie. Maybe not Charlie, though.

"But why?" Neville asked. "Wait, what happened with him?" 

"Ginny and Ron had heard the blast and they came rushing after; since Ron is an Auror, he arrested Bernard on the spot. Eventually, Harry and another Auror came by and took him away. He's being charged with 'Aggravated Assault' and has had to pay a fine. His solicitor's working with him and they're waiting for you to gain consciousness to see what sort of charges you'd like to press…" 

"Charges?" Neville gulped. "But—" 

"Don't worry about that right now, Nev. Focus on getting well. Everyone's gone for the night but they'll be back in the morning. They'll ask a lot of questions and don't feel pressured to answer anyone, okay? Don't feel the need to—" 

"Why are you still here?" 

Charlie smiled and squeezed Neville's hand. "Someone had to stay with you." 

"But why you?" 

Charlie didn't reply. 

"I mean, it's nice you're here. But, I know Harry, Ron, and Ginny care about me a lot. They would have stayed here with me or my Gran if she wanted to but—" 

"But why me?" Charlie asked, looking disappointed. "Do you hate me? Because of Bernard?" 

"What? No…" 

"Because he attacked you and I brought him—" 

"Charlie, I don't hate you because of what happened to me. I mean, two minutes ago when I woke up, I didn't even remember Bernard." _He's not worth remembering._

"So do you hate me for another reason?" 

"No…" Neville said, laughing. "Ow, it hurts." He placed his free hand on his ribs. "What spell did he even use on me. And why?" 

"He was jealous." 

"Of me?" Neville snorted with surprise and disbelief. "What did I ever do to deserve that?" 

"He'd once asked me…" Charlie trailed off for a moment. "I didn't know he was like some crazy jealous person, okay?" 

Charlie looked at Neville for confirmation so Neville nodded. "Okay." 

"When I brought him to meet the family, I didn't know he was going to be so rude to everyone. He was so pleasant with me and my friends in Romania. Except my friends did tell me they didn't like him. Anyway, we'd only been boyfriends for two months and he'd asked me if my brothers had any friends I fancied. So I told him my brother Ron had a friend who I thought was cute. And he asked me why and well, there was a back and forth and apparently when I brought him home, he hadn't expected to see you." 

Neville felt his eyes widen and he sat up straight in his hospital bed. "You think I'm cute?" 

Charlie rolled his eyes. "You're fucking adorable, Nev." 

_Nev._ That was the second time Charlie called him. _All right, I'll file that away for another time._ "So you didn't know he was a total psycho?" 

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, I didn't know he was a total psycho." 

"So, what now?" 

"Now, you decide if you want to press more charges or if you're okay with him paying the fine for a first-time offence." 

"A first-time offence—as far as we know." 

Charlie raised his eyebrows. "Funny, Harry said the same thing." 

"Yes, well…Harry and I know a few things about abuse and psychos." Charlie squeezed his hand again. "Also, why are you still holding my hand?" 

"Oh, sorry. I didn't realise you'd hate it. I was you know…worried." 

"Do you fancy me or something?" Neville asked and surprised himself because why was he being so frank all of a sudden? "What drugs did they give me?" 

Charlie laughed and stood up. He came closer to Neville, still holding his hand. "They only placed some protective spells on you. I think your filter is off because you've been in a sort of a coma for the past two days. Your brain hasn't caught up all the way to propriety yet." 

"Hmm…" Neville said tugging at Charlie's hand and Charlie took one step closer. "So I can tell you I fancy you—I have for a long time?" 

"You could tell me that." Charlie bit his lower lip and his cheeks reddened. "You could tell me more."

"I only came to dinner at your house because Molly told me you were going to be there. And my heart broke a little when I realised you'd arrived with your boyfriend. Maybe he saw that and why he attacked—" 

"No. He's obviously mentally unstable. Neville, don't blame yourself for what happened. I should have seen it. I should have protected you." 

Now, it was Neville's turn to laugh again. He chuckled low, mindful of his ribs. "You couldn't protect me from a psycho. What you could have done was asked me out on a date instead of dating a psycho…" He cringed at his words. "Sorry. Just fancy you, is all." 

"Thank you," Charlie said, surprising Neville. 

"For what?" 

"For not blaming me. Or, I think you don't blame me, right?"

Neville shook his head. "No, I don't blame you. I'm sorry your family had to endure that. I never want to bring them pain—" 

"Neville, it isn't your fault." 

"No, and it isn't yours either, Charlie." 

"What's all this commotion?" A healer walked into Neville's room and interrupted their conversation. "Mr Longbottom, you're awake." 

"Yes. He just woke up—" 

"And you didn't come and get me?" 

"I was making sure he knew where he was. Didn't want to leave him alone and disoriented," Charlie said. "Sorry, Healer Smith." 

"Very well. Let me check on you. Which Weasley are you again?" The healer turned to Charlie and asked. 

"Charlie," both he and Neville said at the same time. 

"Very well. Can you go and get some water for the patient? I need to speak to him alone." 

"Okay," Charlie said looking annoyed but eventually, left the room. 

"That one's been here nonstop, won't quit with his questions. I have to say, Mr Longbottom, your boyfriend is very demanding." 

"Oh, he isn't—" 

"And the way he insists on staying by your side even when I kicked everyone out for the night. The audacity to have Mr Potter speak on his behalf and—" 

"He's feeling guilty, is all," said Neville. 

"I think not," she said and smiled down at Neville. "So how do you feel?" 

"Okay, I think. I don't feel any pain or…" He shrugged. "Great, actually." 

"Good to hear. I'm going to give you another potion to help you sleep through the night. When you wake up in the morning, I'll sign your discharge papers." 

"Okay." Neville didn't like the feeling of sleeping again. He felt like he'd just woken up. When Charlie returned to the room with water, Neville took a sip or two before he drank the potion the healer gave him. "Will you be here in the morning?" he asked Charlie. 

Charlie nodded. "Of course!" 

"Good. Because I'm not done with you." 

Charlie chuckled and took Neville's hand again. "Good. Because I'm not done with you, either."


End file.
